BEIJING -- Canada's accusation that China hacked into its computer systems at the National Research Council has been met with strong opposition.

"It is irresponsible for the Canadian side to make groundless accusations against China when there is no credible evidence," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang in a statement on Thursday. "We are strongly opposed to that," he said.

His comments came in response to a question regarding a statement released by the Treasury Board of the Canadian government saying a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor had managed to hack into the computer systems at Canada's National Research Council.

"The Chinese government consistently opposes criminal activities of all forms aimed at sabotaging the Internet and computer networks, and has been firmly cracking down on such activities," Qin said.

"We urge the Canadian side to correct its mistakes, stop making baseless accusations and remove the negative impacts incurred by its statement," said the spokesman.